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Number of Entries 38

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Jerry welch
North Olmsted, OH, USA

Greetings, Nice site. It is great to see the school, and the happy children! I attended from 1966-72. Served many Masses for Fr. Kennedy and the other Vincentian Fathers. Forever grateful to them and the good sisters and lay women who taught us. May Christ Jesus be praised in our lives. Jerry

Thursday, January 5th 2012 - 08:29:27 PM

Ingrid Delinois Long Cincinnati, Ohio [Email]
	Hi Everyone, My husband was googling my maiden name and bumped into this site. This brings back so many fond memories. I have tons of old pictures that I would love to add to the site. Paul I still remember you and have wondered all the time over the years how you are doing. Thank you so much for setting up this site. Love Ya'll Ingrid
	Saturday, December 24th 2011 - 09:30:18 AM

Margaret Anchor Raleigh, NC [Email]
	Hi Everyone! Nice to bump into this site! I attended St. Mary's from 69-76. Have very fond memories of the school and have had many stories to tell my children. I will never forget Sister Miguel (5th grade) made me stick my piece of gum I was chewing on my nose for the entire day! Needless to say I never chewed gum in school ever again. I see Ida remembers my sister and I from her posting (Hi Ida!!!) Someone mentioned that the nuns were Franciscan. I remember them being Mary Knoll sisters. Did they change at some point?
	Saturday, November 5th 2011 - 10:59:09 AM

Tania Myers-Gill Texas
	I too attended this great institution from 1st through 4th grade. While there, I learned to work hard, play hard, & pray harder! I remember toting my little manila envelope w/ my tuition $$$.... I stumbled on this site as I was looking for the words to Queen of Our School! (If anyone knows it, please share). Thanks for the memories. God Bless.
	Tuesday, August 23rd 2011 - 08:32:58 AM

Lineth Delegado Miami,fl [Email]
	Very beautiful moments and the picture that I'm in with the Brownies, wow so many years have passed, I remember that I only went until the 5th grade, but then we were almost all together in junior and high school. Very beautiful pictures.
	Thursday, March 31st 2011 - 07:09:33 PM

Constantino Caloniatis Panama [Email]
	I did atend this great school from 1963 till 1969.
	Friday, February 25th 2011 - 07:09:16 PM

Annette lim miami fla.33156 [Email] [Homepage]
	I am married and living in miami.I have an 18 year old son .His name is Allan Peter Lim.He is graduating on June 8 fromMiamiKillian SENIOR High School.Plan toattend Miami Dade College.
	Saturday, June 5th 2010 - 05:53:05 PM

Jackie (Aviles) Martin Mobile, Alabama [Email]
	Hi! My entire family attended St. Mary's school. I have the fondest memories of that school. I would love to hear from some of my classmates.
	Friday, April 9th 2010 - 01:22:13 PM

Patrícia Balthazar Neves Niterói, RJ - Brasil [Email]
	Hi! My sister and I went to St. Mary's from 1982 to 1985. I remember Mrs. Kane, Ms. Mendes and Mrs. Reyes. I have lots of pictures, I'll see if I can upload them soon. Very happy to see this site. Feel free to e-mail if you were my classmate, I'm on facebook too. Bye!
	Tuesday, March 30th 2010 - 07:35:20 PM

Panamenian Girl Panama [Email] [Homepage]
	well sincee long timee ago...! thee school was different that it is now...! there alot of things teachers..! etc...!
	Tuesday, February 2nd 2010 - 02:52:32 PM

eileen Dahill NEWzEALAND [Email]
	I also remember the speech concerts. I did donny and marie in one talent show and i remeber walking to Mass and the priest at the time was Fr KENNEDY. Great days and lots of fun.
	Friday, January 15th 2010 - 09:30:18 PM

Sam Lopez Colorado Springs, Colorado [Email]
	Attended St. Mary's 7th and 8th grade, 1957/1958. The Franciscans of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ran the school then. Their mother house is still in Amarillo, TX. I really enjoyed my two years at St. Mary's. My sister and brother also attended St. Mary's after the Sisters of Mercy took over. We graduated from 8th grade at St. Mary's Church. It was a great day!
	Friday, January 15th 2010 - 10:49:58 AM

Charlie Hirst Flower Mound, Tejas [Email]
	Enjoyed seeing pictures of my sister Louise. she would have been class of 81, but transferred to Curundu for 8th grade. I attended St. Mary's from 3rd to 6th grade.
	Sunday, December 27th 2009 - 12:29:23 PM

Cheryl Burdick San Francisco, CA USA [Email]
	Great Website! So many great memories. I graduated class of '79, and remember my friends....David,Robert, Henry, Carlos, Francis, Mackey, Nona, Etta and Raquel. Those were the days.
	Friday, November 6th 2009 - 04:11:32 PM

British Kid UK [Email]
	My sister and I were at St Mary's for our two-year stay in Panama between 1977 and 1979. I remember Mrs Kane, an excellent teacher who became Principal, understood that I was a bit of an alien and was very nice to me as a result. She may be the woman on the left of the homepage picture. I also remember standing in the yard every morning singing both Panamanian and US anthems - neither of which I knew...
	Tuesday, May 26th 2009 - 08:16:28 AM

Alfredo Villa Alta San Salvador/El salvador [Email]
	Muy buenas, por aca tratando de encontrar a mis viejos compañeros de colegio, y me encontre con ustedes, colegio de infancia, creo q me retire en 1996 no estoy muy seguro pero ya revisare mi anuario y solo quiero darles las gracias por ser parte de mi historia educacional,
	Tuesday, April 7th 2009 - 08:34:25 AM

Chris Palumbo Houston, TX, USA [Email]
	Hey, all, and thanks more than I can say for this site. I've been looking on-line for pix like you have here intermittently for a while, having none of my own. I attended 4th-6th grades (Classes no. "2") from fall 1969 through spring 1973. Teachers were primarily Mrs. Smith, Sister Bonaventure, and Mrs. MacFarland. Have many memories of the school, including the daily morning assembly in the courtyard, the anthem-singing, One-weekly PE at the YMCA facilities next door, climbing the stairs to the library, buying things I didn't really need at the bookstore (and yet a couple of which I still probably have), periodic treks over to the church up on the hill, and (perhaps best of all) getting out of school at only 1:30 p.m. everyday. Now in Houston, Texas. Feel free to contact me as desired.
	Sunday, March 29th 2009 - 04:51:39 AM

Louis Archuleta Cypress, Texas [Email]
	Great web site, brought back many memories. I attended St. Mary's from 1965 thru 1973. A big thank you to all those who have contributed to this site, great work.
	Friday, January 9th 2009 - 01:22:39 PM

Reinaldo Sandoval panama [Email]

	Thursday, December 18th 2008 - 05:13:03 AM

ruth guerrero aiken, sc [Email]
	talk about memories. st mary's was great. I remember Sister Eileen who was the principal. my favorite teacher was Ms. Tuñon for 4th and 2nd. Wow, so many ppl. Carolina Mata, Winston Wu, Paul anderer, Paul Wright, etc. I remember getting swatted with the board and playing red rover on the back playyard. thx for the memories.
	Tuesday, December 16th 2008 - 08:19:30 PM

darcy smith Panama [Email]
	incredible, a walk down memorry lane. sure remeber those years, all great. scince were in the season of joy id like to wish all my x-st marys freinds a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
	Tuesday, December 16th 2008 - 07:08:27 PM

Dharmesh Desai USA [Email]
	I attended St.Mary's between 1979 til 1986. The only kids i rmember are Gabriel Clerichi, Gina, helen, Arturo enrique vasquez, and alberto Montenegro. If anyone attended during this time it would be great to catch up with. I remember competing in track and field against the other schools.
	Saturday, September 20th 2008 - 12:03:50 AM

Ben Okiyama Upland, Ca [Email]
	Hi All.. What a surprise to find a website dedicated to St Marys. I went there back in 72-74. My mom, Mrs Okiyama taught 4th grade there as well. Many great memories...playing marbles in the mango yard,
	Sunday, August 10th 2008 - 09:43:30 AM

Chrystelle Sinclair Sweden
	Hello! I attended the school between 1988 and 1993. But my 3 elder brothers, attended the school way before and acctually 2 of them got diplomas from St. Mary's. We have tones of memories and we just love this school. Unfortunately I think that most of our professors do not work there anymore or just...passed away. I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you!
	Thursday, July 17th 2008 - 09:29:57 PM

Maxine Aviles (Hernandez) LaPorte/TX/USA [Email]
	Hi, I graduated in 1973.. Still remember the fans in the classrooms and helping the nuns press the hosts in the morning before class. I learned to ride a bike in the mango yard!!! What great memories.. This is a great website. I'll be checking in.
	Tuesday, June 17th 2008 - 02:27:51 PM

Maxine Hernandez LaPorte/TX/USA [Email]
	My name is Maxine Hernandez(Aviles). Class of 1974 , loved the website hope others find it. Thanks for the memories of the Mango Yard. There were 5 of us kids and we used to get there really early in the morning and we would help the nuns press the hosts for mass. We got to keep the left overs that we used at home when we played "church"..Those were the days....
	Monday, June 16th 2008 - 08:45:16 PM

Diane Hidalgo (Cubita) Miami, Florida [Email]
	Hi!, I graduated from St. Mary’s back in 1973. These were great times for me. Sorry I did not know what I had back then. Thank god for Google. I didn’t know about the web site. I will be adding to the pictures of my classmates as soon as I can. Great job for whom ever came up with this idea. Thanks for remembering. Diane D. Hidalgo “Cubita"
	Wednesday, May 14th 2008 - 08:02:26 AM

Ricky Dormoi Miami, FL
	I'm very glad to see you guys have such a wonderful website. I didn't attend St. Mary's, though attended it's "sister school" St. Vincent's or "Colegio San Vicente" in spanish. I'm in that same age range of yours (I graduated in 1983). Got to know Father Kennedy very well; as well as Sister Jane, Sister Rose Ann; they usted to live in that building on the 4th of July Ave; between the Gorgas Hospital and the Smithsonian. Sad to say, my school is not even half of what it used to be. Though, St. Mary's has tried to keep up with the same tradition, especially when it comes to the language. Half of the subjects are taught in english. That's why I chose St. Mary's as my daughter's school since Kinder. Now she's in the 6th. grade and my wish is for her to graduate from there. I wish it had been my old "alma mater"; but like I said, the actual St. Vincent's school is nothing like the the St. Vincent's I attended. Well; enough of melancholic thoughts. My congrat s to you and your classmates for such a beautiful website and for keeping up with such a wonderful spirit. Believe me; even those of us who didn't graduate from here enjoy the page. It's cool to see how we used to dress back in the days, ha, ha, ha! Regards, Ricky Dormoi
	Tuesday, March 18th 2008 - 12:15:40 PM

Ida Murphy (Hogarth)
	HI I attended St. Mary's back in 1972 through 1974 I had Mrs. Okiyama for 4thgrade and Mrs. Borrensen and Sister Miguel for 5th grade. I would love to be able to contact anyone I was there with. I do remember Angela and Marguerite Anchor, Maria Archuleta and Julie and Patty PHilips, Ana Puentes,etc, Friends, Ida
	Thursday, March 6th 2008 - 05:33:47 PM

Natalie Mashburn
	Class of '77. Would like to hear from some of my classmates: Ana Maria Martinez, Tamara Molino, Hernan Vallejo, Paul Myers, etc... Come on, reach out and touch some one!!!
	Saturday, February 16th 2008 - 12:32:35 PM

Canal Zone Child
	I think I’ve determined a few things while continuing to try to find more information about St. Mary’s. The St. Mary’s school you attended must be the same school I attended. There are too many similarities to what I remember. I just don’t remember those two buildings for some reason although now that I’ve seen pictures I kind of remember walking up to my sister who was standing on the steps in front of the columns on the original building during recess. I clearly remember the stone wall and the open balconies to the classrooms. I vaguely remember the grotto now that I’ve seen pictures of it. I don’t know why the school bus would leave the Canal Zone and drive through what I think was Santa Ana past the Pan Am building which had been burned in the riots. I’m fairly sure we were the last to get picked up in the morning and the first to get dropped off in the afternoon. The riots happened before we arrived in Panama. The big white stucco Cathedral on top of the hill must have been St. Mary’s Church. I remember it being bigger and grander but I was pretty small then. I found what I think is the school and the church on Google Earth and they’re mostly consistent with what I remember. St. Mary’s no longer exists. From the pictures accessible near the bottom of the “Updates” column the school now appears be Instituto Bolivar. I suppose that there was not enough demand for the private school after the US withdrawal from the Canal Zone. I did an internet search on “Instituto Bolivar” and found this article from August 23, 2007. http://www.pa-digital.com.pa/archive/08 ... re01.shtml. I can’t read Spanish but I think it’s about the school needing a lot of renovation work. If the article is about what used to be St. Mary’s I would love to read an English translation of the article or at least some paraphrasing of the article in English. :D :D :D
	Thursday, December 27th 2007 - 11:12:14 PM

Canal Zone Child
	Hi, I lived in the Canal Zone in the mid sixties and went to second, third and part of fourth grade at Saint Mary’s Missionary. I think the school was first through eighth grade. I don’t remember there being any kinder garden. The school was off base. I always thought it was in Balboa but after trying to locate it I believe it was in Panama City. We lived in Curundu Heights and the bus would take us through a gate armed with machine gun nests. We would drive past the burned out Pan Am building and then through some pretty run down parts of town. Then it got nice again. It seemed that the school was on a busy city street that went towards the Ocean. The school was on the right side of the street if facing the ocean. A couple of blocks away from the school heading away from the Ocean on the same side of the street was a big white stucco Cathedral on top of a hill where we went to church occasionally during the school day. I can sort of remember that the school was made up of at least three two story buildings that created a big court yard in the middle where we assembled for class and had recreation. There was also a big athletic field with a couple of palm trees behind the school for PE. I remember running relay races there in fourth grade. I also remember that military convoys would drive by a few times a week, maybe it was every day. They would have troop carriers and mostly mobile missile launchers. A few times I counted over a hundred vehicles drive by. Some of the photos on your website seem familiar but others don’t. The stone wall in the court yard and the two story classroom building next to it look vaguely like what I remember. The uniforms look like what we wore. The big building with the columns does not look familiar and neither does the modern building or the quiet street on your website header. Is your St. Mary’s School the same St. Mary’s Missionary that I went to? I’m trying to find the school and the church and determine if they even still exist. If I went to a different St. Mary’s school can you give me some information to help me find where I went? Why is your website limited to eight years? I am so fortunate to have lived for 2 ½ years in Panama as a child. I hope your experiences were just as rewarding. :D :D :D
	Wednesday, December 26th 2007 - 11:05:29 PM

Canicas one more time
	I don't recall being called a MANGO YARD, but I do remember a play ground area that had a bunch of swings. We would swing higher than a kite and jump off. It's a wonder we never broke a leg or two. We used to have MAFIA FIGHTS. Yea, we would fight one class room against the other. I think this contributed quite an erratic behaviour in that school year. I mean, we didn't punch each other out till blood came out or anything like that but it did get kind of wild and out of hand at times. Teachers and nuns got involved, looking for ring leaders. I remember having FLUTE lessons and singing in this class and me and my buddy, named EDDIE BAUER. I wonder where that guy is now. I know he left to Florida. He was a very cool kid, we were picking on this girl and she was big. I saw her kick my pal in the forehead with her heals as I was walking out the door in single file. I turn around and I see him on his knees taking a shot right in the forehead, gave him a nice purple welt. It was the funniest thing. Yea. I remember me and my brother raising hell with the class, always had them laughing like crazy. I guess we had a different style, our Spanish was off, we were really adjusting to life in Panama. I remember our Spanish teacher making us tell a story to the class and when I stood there in my screwed up vocabulary in Spanish, I just rambled some dumb story about some good lookin chick at our apartments and that whole class went WILD. I tell you, we were a side show. I think they were glad to have us there in that school but I think a year was too much and were probably glad we left for Curundu. Hey, one time after the school year, I went to Costa Rica with my Aunt and Uncle and I ran into this kid named JOSE. I remember his name because he said he was JOSE from SAN JOSE. Jose was a classmate in St. Mary's. He told me his mom was from San Jose Costa Rica and he too was visiting there. We just run into each other in AVENIDA CENTRAL in San Jose in some store, JUST LIKE THAT! Yeah, if anybody from 73-74 is reading this, they'll definately know who I am.
	Saturday, November 3rd 2007 - 08:38:10 AM

Canicas again
	Hey, remember the PANAMANIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM? Sure you do. It was drilled to us in that PARADE DECK outside of the classrooms. I remember my first moment standing in line in the morning and TRYING to sing this song. I didn't know JACK of the words to this song. I remember after the first week or so, I picked up on the "ALCANSAMOS POR FIN LA VICTORIA EN EL CAMPO FELIZ DE LA UNION. CON ARDIENTES FULGORES DE GLORIA SE LUMINA LA NUEVA NACION".....and that is it man. THAT IS IT. From there, it went to a HUMMING kind of thing and I could never make out the words. Till this day I don't know the rest of the words. I would just place my hand over my left nipple and hum my way through the morning national anthem. My eyes would roll around hoping nobody would notice. All I could make out was something like.......ESCOSIS ES CUBRIR CON HUMBERGO......da da da da da... Don't laugh, this is true stuff.
	Saturday, November 3rd 2007 - 08:21:27 AM

Canicas
	They used to play this funny game at St. Mary's. If you were an "Eye Sore" to the nuns, they would take you and put you in class with the lower graders. This was supposed to be some humiliation thing I suppose. They sat me down I forget with which group, but they even gave me a test that they were taking. Some addition and subtraction math test. Would you believe that they even graded it to me and had one of the students in the lower grades walk the test to my class room in the 6th grade the following day? I remember I aced it than threw it in the trash. There was this teacher that used to like to SLAP students around. One time a kid told his mom, and his mom took action. I heard the next day that this teacher was in serious trouble. Big CRY from my previous school in the states where the nuns would even throw punches. Parents had no say. The best CARIMANIOLA (You know what Im talking about) I ever had was from a kid that his mom made them handmade. She even made the best corn empanadas in the world. First time I ever really liked an empanada and carimaniola. I once saw a kid with MANGO POISONING in St. Mary's. He got the mango juice in his eyes and he came into school with eyes all puffed up. The next day it looked normal. I asked him what he did, he told me he held an ONION to his eye until everything there drained. I still remember names from St. Mary's. I don't post them here, but I know whom they are. I wish them all success.
	Friday, November 2nd 2007 - 03:32:03 PM

Canicas
	St. Mary's was the first school I attended in the Canal Zone. I had previously came from the states. I attended ST. MARY'S in 1973-74 in the 6th grade. The next year, I went to CURUNDU. I met some great kids there and some followed later on to Curundu and Balboa. We had a special bond throughout the years. Some songs I remember from that year in St. Mary's were songs like RIKI DON'T LOSE THAT NUMBER by Steely Dan. (The number one I think of St. Mary's when I hear it on the radio.) Then there was songs from the STYLISTICS, "You are everything" and CHICAGO. "Getting stronger everyday". Oh, and we played alot of marbles too. "CANICAS". Some were teachers, some were NUNS. It was way different than the Catholic school I attended in the states. My memories of St. Mary's are mixed. Seemed to get into aot of trouble. Maybe it was an adjustment thing. I'll leave my name as CANICAS.
	Friday, November 2nd 2007 - 03:21:26 PM

Manuel Madison, AL [Homepage]
	Hi Michelle. This is Manuel Carrizo. We were in the same class in the 7th grade if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember Misty Maxy, but I am in touch with Rebecca Grimison. Also Tomas Avila, Hena Cuevas, Angelica Mans, Ana Young, Paul Minor, Tracy Vecchio, Maria Claudia Castro and even Mrs. Kane. If you register to the forum, you'll be able to read what we've all been up to and you can tell us about yourself. Hope you decide to join.
	Monday, July 23rd 2007 - 03:13:37 PM

Mecheli
	My name is Michelle Fuller. I attended St Mary's in 1981. I remember attending with Rebecca Grimison and Misty Maxy. I think those names are correct. I don't have a year book of that year. Look forward to hearing from someone.
	Monday, July 23rd 2007 - 02:49:09 AM

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